THE CILICE





The word cilice originally referred to the hairshirt, an undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair. It is pronounced "SILL-iss" and comes from the Latin word "cilicium" meaning a covering made of goat's hair deriving from Cilicia, a Roman province in south-east Asia Minor.

They were most often worn by monks and other members of religious orders to prevent any feelings of comfort or pleasure. The garments would have been itchy and hot and a breeding ground for fleas and body lice.

Rich men would sometimes wear a hair shirt under their fine clothes as penance for adorning themselves


In more recent times the word has come to refer to a spiked metal belt or chain worn strapped tight around the upper thigh. Within the Roman Catholic Church there are many religious orders that use the cilice as a form of "corporal mortification," but in recent years it has become known as a practice of numeraries (celibate lay people) of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. It is worn for two hours a day, and while it causes discomfort, it should not break the skin.

Corporal mortification is a voluntarily accepted discomfort which joins the practitioner closer to Jesus Christ and the sufferings he voluntarily accepted in order to redeem the world from sin.



The cilice is perhaps the most shocking of the corporal mortifications, and generally Opus Dei members are extremely hesitant to admit that they use them. It is a painful mortification which leaves small prick holes in the flesh, and makes the Opus Dei members tentative about baring their legs in public.

The use of a cilice on the upper thigh is a prominent signature trait of the albino monk Silas, a fictional and masochistic member of Opus Dei, and one of the lead antagonists in Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code. Both Brown's book and the Ron Howard movie exaggerate it, however, depicting the cilice as something that is wrapped so tightly that it digs into the flesh, causing bleeding and severe pain.



Back to History Index

Back to Main Index